All the news

• ACP course sparks South-East Asian ‘twin’
  

  Drawing inspiration from ENDURE’s Agroecological Crop Protection (ACP) international training course held in Volterra, Italy, a ‘Twin Scientist School’ was staged in Can Tho, Vietnam, in March, providing the opportunity for 23 participants to learn more about the ACP approach, which is seen as providing important benefits for crop protection in South-East Asia.

• Award marks Franco-Hungarian collaboration
  

  ENDURE coordinator Antoine Messéan has been made an Honorary Professor at Szent István University in Gödöllö, Hungary, in recognition of the long-standing collaboration between his institute, France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), and the Hungarian university. It is a relationship first forged in collaborations for various Diabrotica-related European projects from 2000 and, specifically, 14 years ago during the preparation stage for the ENDURE Network of Excellence.

• IPM ‘packages’ undergo field testing
  

  The EUCLID project’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) ‘packages’ are currently undergoing field testing with farmers, offering alternative approaches for combating pests and diseases in three important crops (grapes, leafy vegetables and tomatoes).

• £5 million boost to UK research
  

  Four of the United Kingdom’s leading universities and research centres have been given a £5.3 million (around €6 milllion) boost to fund their work on improving crop resilience, sustainability and quality. The recipients, including ENDURE partner Rothamsted Research (pictured), will receive the funding over the next five years to “help develop new technologies and environmentally friendly production for farmers and growers across the country”.

• Biocontrol on the march in France
  

  French Integrated Pest Management (IPM) experts have provided an update on the biological control situation in the country, where these alternative control methods continue to be become more widely used in IPM strategies. The authors identify some of the key drivers behind these developments, including legal changes to encourage the development of new biocontrol options, major investments in both public and private research, the development of experimental networks and projects and the incorporation of biocontrol in the country’s pesticide savings certificate scheme (Certificats d’Economie de Produits de Phytopharmaceutiques or CEPP).

• DiverIMPACTS: get the newsletter and flyer
  

  New ways of keeping up with the DiverIMPACTS project (Diversification through Rotation, Intercropping, Multiple Cropping, Promoted with Actors and value-Chains towards Sustainability) are now available with the publication of its first newsletter and the production of an informative flyer. Funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, DiverIMPACTS brings together 34 partners from 11 countries, including farmers and farmer organisations, advisory services, cooperatives, logistics providers, scientists, industry professionals and representatives of civil society and rural areas with the aim of exploring the full potential of diversifying cropping systems and thereby improving agricultural productivity and resource efficiency and creating sustainable value chains.

• Halving pesticide use in apple orchards
  

  Researchers from INRA (France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research) have reported on their long-term experimental work on apple orchards, which has seen them reduce pesticide use by up to 50% through a series of measures based on increased forecasting and observation of pests and diseases.

• Significant improvements required in NAPs
  

  The European Commission has urged Member States to “significantly” improve their National Action Plans (NAP) to address the shortcomings identified in their review of progress on the implementation of the Pesticides Directive (2009/128/EC) and to “establish more precise and measurable targets”.

• Search for SWD predators closes in
  

  The prospects of new biological controls to combat spotted-wing drosophila, a serious invasive pest causing extensive economic damage in berries and stone fruit, have moved a step closer thanks to two projects involving ENDURE partners.

• ‘One health’ approach to include crop pests
  

  CIRAD and INRA, two of ENDURE’s French partners, have combined forces with other research and higher educational institutions to form a network to drive innovation in the control of not only crop pests but also arthropods which transmit pathogens causing infectious diseases in humans and animals.